hiatus and learning to weld (again)

OK, so i've been on a slight hiatus from the ghia for a few weeks.  I've been pulled away to travel for work, replace brakes/rotors on the jetta, and tackling a few honey do's.  I did manage to break away for a few minutes today to try out the new welder though.  I know the post title says "learning to weld" but that's because although I have done some mig welding in the past, it has been a very long time.

I don't have a any scrap metal lying around to booger up but I did have the handle of my floor jack that was in two pieces (by design) and was bugging me since i bought it.  Since it's just the handle it didn't matter if i screwed it up.  So i took off the paint with a wire wheel and went to work.  I don't have a tank of argon/CO2 yet so this was just with some flux core wire.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well it welded without the gas.  There was very little splatter and it sizzled just like it should.  I did need to turn down the heat and the feed rate from my initial setting but it didn't take long before it was moving right along.

Also, i have an autotint welding helmet which makes a huge difference in how easy it is to weld.  i remember the fixed tint helmets being a total pain to get adjusted just right so that when you flipped it down the window was in just the right place.  Maybe i just never got the hang of it, but it just didn't work as well.  Enough babbling.  Here is a pick of my first weld (in the last 10yrs or so at least).  It turned out FAR better than i was expecting.